Daniel bedford



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

DANIEL BEDFORD, OF NEV YORK, N. Y.

APPARATUS FOR DISCHARGING RESERVOIRS, &C.

Specification of Letters Patent No. 13,590, dated September 25, 1855.

To all 'whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, DANIEL BEDFORD, of the city, county, `and State of New York, have invented a certain new and useful I-Iydraulic Apparatus for Discharging the Contents of Reservoirs, Sinks, lVater-Olos-ets, and the Like Fixtures, by which whe-n the water has risen therein to a given height it shall operate to throw a valve wide open and discharge the whole contents of the receptacle, when by a self-operating apparatus the said valve is closed, thus forming a self-acting discharge for the contents of the abovenamed receptacle or such other hydraulic works as the device shall be applicable to.

My device is for the purpose of stopping off the connection between the outlet or soil pipe with the reservoir making it sufficiently tight to prevent the escape of noxious gases or efiiuvia and retaining a large quantity of water in the receptacle till the discharge takes place when the whole contents are suddenly disgorged into the waste pipe or outlet which act-s as a percussive force to drive off all the more solid contents of the receptacle or pipe7 by which there is a greater tending to keep the parts free and in good working order.

The construction is as follows: A receptacle of any convenient and proper form, one of which is shown at a Figure l, in the drawing is made with an ample outlet b, in the bottom or side of which there is a valve seat to which a valve c is hinged by the upper end in a somewhat inclined pol sition when closed, as clearly indicated 1n Fig. 2 by the black lines where a section of that part of the apparatus is shown cut on line X X of Fig. l. The valve c has an arm d projecting up from it in the upper end of which there is an oblong opening in which a pin or roller on the end of a lever e works. This lever e curves upward and over into a horizont-al line a sufficient distance for the service to which it is applied as clearly indicated in the drawing. afulcrum pin at e on which it turns that is permanently aiiiXed to the stationary parts of the apparatus. On the opposite or horizontal end of the lever e, there is an upright spring piece of metal e2 attached in such a manner that it can be made to slide along the lever and set or adjusted for the proper balance. On the top of the spring there is a It has weight or ball f by which the valve is kept closed till the weight of water in the receptacle overbalances it when it rises at once into the position shown by the red lines upon Fig. 2, which also indicate the position of the valve. The reason why the valve is surely thrown wide open is, that when once started, although the weight in the receptacle rapidly decreases by the discharge, the weight also proportionably decreases and continues moving till the valve is wide open, and the weight f is thrown beyond a perpendicular line over the fulcrum, and rests in that posit-ion. It will be obvious that with this state of things and no further device the valve would remain open indefinitely, which would defeat the purpose of my invention, to correct this, and restore the parts to their original position I employ a float g, in a well or receptacle w which communicates with the main receptacle a by means of the opening la. at or near the lowest point therein so that as the water rises the well fills and carries up the float. When the water falls by the opening of the valve c the float g also falls and being attached to a lever i it brings a catch z" into contact with lever e and throws it back beyond its fulcrum when it falls by its own gravity and thus closes the valve o. It is obvious other arrangements of the float g and its lever z' could be devised to produce the same effect. In the drawing the lever z' is attached to a stop cock lc which serves as its fulcrum. This stop cock opens and closes the water way of the supply pipe Z at any position of the lever desired, but as this is a common device it needs no explanation further. The object of the spring e2 to which the weight is attached is to ease the blow of the valve upon its seat when it returns to its normal position.

It is obvious that modifications of this device as above described can be made, retaining the same features of novelty as for instance attaching the valve directly to the lever which could be used t-o advantage in some positions, but such changes will readily suggest themselves to the operative plumber.

I wish to be understood as laying no claim to a float for either opening or closing a valve, nor do I claim a balance valve when the levers and weights thereof are not so arranged as to hold the valve open when appurtenances in the manner and for the purposes set forth.

2. I also claim in combination therewith the float g for Closing the valve c when the 15 whole contents of the receptacle is discharged.

DANIEL BEDFORD. Y

Witnesses:

H, C. BARNES, GEO. THOMAS. 

